The obligatory “Maher wishes Beck dead” post

posted at 9:13 am on March 6, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Look, I don’t like Bill Maher any more than most Hot Air readers, although I used to watch him back in the Politically Incorrect days, when he used to actually be funny. I don’t see what’s unusual about this, other than being somewhat less tasteless than Maher usually gets. Despite the mail and tweets I’m getting, Maher isn’t wishing Glenn Beck dead, but making a bad joke. There’s a difference between this and, say, the Michael Moore anger over the 9/11 plotters targeting the tolerant blue cities of New York and DC instead of the xenophobes in the Midwest, or Ward Churchill’s argument that the 9/11 victims got what they deserved — a big difference. I don’t think Glenn Beck is going to lose any sleep over this (from Mediaite TV):

Tacky, yes. But outrageous? Yawn. I’ll save my outrage for government abuse of power and politicians selling influence.

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Sounds about par for the Lefty course. Anytime something happens like this, they would rather it be Beck, Rush, or whoever is in the spotlight at the time.

Actually, I think the more they say things like this, the more it loses its sting. And the less attention tools like this will get because of it.

On Mahar’s decline, I agree he used to be a lot better before he got so bitter. I used to think that I would lovepay to see a head-to-head between Mahar and Dennis Miller. Little did I know at the time that I had completely reversed assigned sides. Not to mention nowdays that Miller could take down Mahar without a second thought.

Beck has exposed the liberal/progressive/socialist/communist agenda better then anyone. He has identified the enemy of democracy and exposed them for what they are. I thank God for Glenn Beck being able to explain history at this critical time. For without him, I fear this country would be much worse off. May Gode watch over him and protect him from the onslaugt the progressives will throw at him.

Ed your wrong..this was wishing Beck to be killed. Why is this complicated for you? What if Maher had said Obama instead of Beck?? Besides the federal crime difference, what is the moral difference?? none

Wishing people dead, especially in light of some nut actually shooting police, is not funny. That is not making a joke. It is concerning to me that you think that is making a joke. Gheesh

Glenn will wear it like a badge of honor. It must really irk Maher that Beck is about a thousand times more popular and much better paid than he is. Which is really why little Billy hates him so much. Jealousy .

No big deal for Maher, since anyone who’s followed his career for the past decade knows this is something he’d say simply in a media-whorish attempt to be ‘shocking’. On the other hand, Alec Baldwin saying a decade ago on Conan’s show and saying Henry Hyde should be stoned to death was really Alec’s coming-out party as a batshirt liberal, and was the foundation for all of Baldwin’s craziness that followed.

I beg to differ Cap’n Ed. Maher absolutely wished Glenn Beck dead. It wasn’t just a tasteless joke. It was a blatant expression of a desire to see Glenn Beck dead. Whether he meant it or not is another question. But what he expressed is not in question.

“When we see crazy, senseless deaths like this, we can only ask, why, why, WHY couldn’t it have been Glenn beck.”

Smoking pot has been shown to worsen existing paranoid, delusional and psychotic behavior in those who partake of cannabis. Maher seems to resemble that remark. He is morphing into FatAss Olbermann. Put down the bong, Billy.

Ed, Maher’s comment is the SAME as the one Michael Moore made. Obviously, Moore wanted a different set of 1000s killed, while Maher wanted just a different person killed. But it’s the same concept.

Hey, didn’t Lefties blame O’Reilly when a doctor who performed late term abortions was murdered? O’Reilly never said that he wished the doctor dead. All he said, if I remember correctly, was that he thought the doctor was committing murder. On that basis, the Lefties laid the blame at O’Reilly’s feet.

Here, Maher isn’t just saying that he thinks what Beck is espousing is wrong, Maher goes further and says that Beck should be dead.

Where is the protest from the Left against what it considers provocation?

Until we, as a culture can denounce this kind of behavior, we will continue to decline at a rapid rate.

This is the kind of mindset that frightens me when thinking of where we’re heading. If one set of values overpowers the other, these are the people who will turn a blind eye or even encourage another Nazi Germany or Stalin’s Russia.

And yet somehow the meme that conservatives are hate mongers continues to be spread and accepted by a small (and hopefully shrinking) majority. I actually had to sit through a homily by a priest at my local cathedral a few weeks ago, where ‘talk radio’ (which we all know is code for conservative pundits) was used as an example of how ‘angry’ and coarse our culture had become. Somehow, the good father has managed to completely miss the actual anger and hate on the left. And he wondered that he had ‘angered’ half of his congregation. Ugh!!!

Are you hearing the hysterical laughter fromn Maher’s audience? Not only do they fill his studio during every taping, but they seem to be genuinely rolling in the aisles and having a smashing good time.

This is the kind of mindset that frightens me when thinking of where we’re heading. If one set of values overpowers the other, these are the people who will turn a blind eye or even encourage another Nazi Germany or Stalin’s Russia.

Wake up folks!

katy on March 6, 2010 at 10:28 AM

+1

I used to wonder how on earth things got to be so horrific, but here in the ‘civilized’ United States of America we have the likes of pop-culture princess Meghan Fox wishing Christians would be wiped off the planet and yet people still pay to see her movies, read about her in magazines, etc… I don’t wonder anymore.

This isn’t new territory for Maher. 2 years ago when Heath Ledger OD’d, he said on his show that he was regretful that it wasn’t Rush. So not only is he meanspirited and hateful, but he’s recycling his material as well.

BTW, when I moved a year ago into a new house with the wife, I didn’t resubscribe to HBO. Maher is the reason why. We also refused to buy a fridge made by GE.

Ed, I love your work, but, Hot Air seems to be getting more and more PC. Maher openly asked why it wasn’t Glenn who was shot. Where are you missing the facts?

On another note, those who stand up for McConnell and Boehner, why didn’t they stand behind Bunning? NOW is the time to fight, to draw the line, no matter what. Our lives, freedom and fortunes are in peril.

Are you hearing the hysterical laughter fromn Maher’s audience? Not only do they fill his studio during every taping, but they seem to be genuinely rolling in the aisles and having a smashing good time.

As someone who has laughed at dead baby jokes, dead lawyer jokes (“What do you call a busload of lawyers driving off a cliff? A good start”), exploding Space Shuttle jokes, etc., I shan’t be throwing a stone. I’m with Ed.

I have to disagree with Ed. Maher was definitely wishing Beck dead. The nutjob died and Maher asks, “Why couldn’t it have been Glenn Beck?” I don’t see any other way to take that comment. But I do agree that I don’t think Glenn is going to lose any sleep over it.

Keep talking, lefties. You help us out every time you open your mouths.

I was watching Glenn Beck’s show yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it. I can see why Maher is so threatened. It was a fascinating episode about the education system.

As for Maher wishing Beck dead, I’m not shocked. I never wish people dead, no matter who it is. It’s bad luck/karma/whatever you want to call it. If Maher wants to deal with the consequences of putting that out in the world, he can go right ahead.

Liberals in media really don’t know how to deal with the fact that conservatives have taken away their popularity.The lefties thought they owned the media because they were so talented.Now that they are getting creamed in the ratings by conservatives,they only have one avenue to try to regain their popularity,and that is the personal attack.Even Ann Coulter does comedy better than Maher.
Conservatives are beating Liberals at their own game,and Liberals can’t stand it.

Whenever the cable company calls to sell me a new cable bundle, it always includes HBO. I tell them every time, when HBO gets rid of Bill Maher, I may reconsider, but until then, I will NEVER subscribe.

I wonder how that would play out if, say, Evan Sayet joked “It’s really sad when we see crazy, senseless deaths like this… why, why couldn’t it have been <NAME DELETED TO KEEP SECRET SERVICE FROM ARRESTING ANYONE>?”

Maher is just sad and pathetic. I don’t quite know how to articulate it, but there is a vast difference between him and say, Jon Stewart. Maher just seems like the kind of guy who would kick a puppy if its owner happened to be conservative. He thinks he’s clever and cutting edge, but it comes across as hackneyed.

Maher is an intern or two away from being David Letterman. Two used-to-be quasi-funny comedians that are now bitter and full of seething hatred for anyone with a different point of view. They see the twilight of their careers rapidly approaching and are trying desperately to remain relevant.

Like most on the Left, this hateful little man lost whatever sanity he had on December 12, 2000, when the Bush-loving Supreme Court “stole” the election for Chimpy (by a 7-2 vote).

Del Dolemonte on March 6, 2010 at 9:33 AM

Yeah you keep saying that.

What was the vote on the remedial issue?

crr6 on March 6, 2010 at 12:14 PM

Thanks for admitting I struck a raw nerve. But my intent was simply to illustrate what sent Maher off the rails, not to rehash the recount. Of course, the real problem with Gore is that he never would have needed to win Florida if he hadn’t been rejected by the voters of his own home state.

You know what that vote was as well as I do.

But that second 5-4 ruling isn’t why Gore lost. And you know that too. Which is why your side never mentions the SCOTUS 7-2 Equal Protection Clause ruling which actually decided the case merits, and it’s why your side also never mentions the earlier 9-0 SCOTUS b*tch-slapping of the previous Florida Supreme Court attempt to steal the election for Gore.

Likewise, your side never mentions that the all-Democrat Florida Supreme Court injected itself into the case unsolicited, and that its Chief Justice bitterly dissented from the court’s final “ruling” attempting to give Gore the Presidency. Said Chief Justice correctly predicted that his colleagues’ blatant attempt to steal the election would be laughed out of SCOTUS.

Your problem is that you’ve never read an objective book about the recount. Try “The Perfect Tie”, written by a couple of unbiased college poli sci professors. Their book makes Alan Dershowitz’ hastily thrown together account look like amateur hour.

Ed, I love your work, but, Hot Air seems to be getting more and more PC. Maher openly asked why it wasn’t Glenn who was shot. Where are you missing the facts?

On another note, those who stand up for McConnell and Boehner, why didn’t they stand behind Bunning? NOW is the time to fight, to draw the line, no matter what. Our lives, freedom and fortunes are in peril.

davecatbone on March 6, 2010 at 10:48 AM

Because 80% of so called conservatives and Republicans are way more worried about what the lefties will say about them then actually speaking the truth.

That’s why the Dems have super-majorities in Congress, the Presidency, and the Repubs have nothing except a very slim majority on the Supremem Court, sometimes.

Dems lie cheat and steal, Repubs always try to be the nice guy.

Guess what? Nice guys finish last. And until Ed, Boehner, and the American people figure that out, we are all screwed.

Too bad Andrew Brietbart, Rush, Michael Savage, and Beck are the only people in America who have figured that out.

You really grant a free pass on these leftist hate mongers like Maher. But they spread their rants about death, wishing cancer, and malice continually with no penalty. And we see again and again these crazy leftist sheeple flip out and kill people. Metro shooter and Amy Bishop most recently. It’s one thing to say those killers were crazy lone gunman, but it’s getting really hard to say they are alone with all these leftist commentators behind them urging violence and preaching hate. The left sees violence as a useful tool. This wasn’t a bad joke by Maher, it was a call to violence.

But that second 5-4 ruling isn’t why Gore lost. And you know that too.

>
You’re confused. While two of the justices in the minority (Souter and Breyer) agreed that there was merit to the question of “equal protection” in the case, they disagreed that there was no way to fairly remedy the situation in Florida in a timely manner so that the counting of valid ballots should be halted. In fact, they agreed with the Court’s minority that the US Supreme Court should not have taken this case in the first place.

Anyway, if there was some sort of consensus on the issue, why did Stevens write one of the most harshly worded dissents in SCOTUS history?
Still…that’s cool you read a book on it n’ stuff though.

Which is why your side never mentions the SCOTUS 7-2 Equal Protection Clause ruling which actually decided the case merits, and it’s why your side also never mentions the earlier 9-0 SCOTUS b*tch-slapping of the previous Florida Supreme Court attempt to steal the election for Gore.

9-0 b**-slapping? If I remember correctly, they basically declined to hear the case in its merits. You really are very confused. Perhaps you should read your book again, slowly.